ICT4D in China and the Capability Approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Ting
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Capability Approach

For more than a decade, the Chinese government has poured copious resources into rural informatization as a means to increase agricultural productivity and rural economic growth. Such efforts so far have not produced definite results in rural areas, but increasing economic inequality and rising environmental threats have already forced the government to rethink its growth-centered development policy. Indeed, recent government releases clearly state the resolve to departure from the “GDP obsession” of the past. Meanwhile, the past three decades saw the rise of a powerful alternative development approach—the Capability Approach (CA), which focuses on empowering individuals and sees economic growth as one element of well-being. Given that the CA can potentially help devising a more coherent and holistic framework for Information and communications technologies for development (ICT4D), this paper examines the compatibility between the Capability Approach and the top-down socialist approach towards rural informatization in China. Built on two case studies of rural informatization in rural China, the present paper identifies potential obstacles to the adoption of the Capability Approach and discusses policy implications and suggestions.

scholarly journals Public Spending and Poverty Reduction in Indonesia: The Effects of Economic Growth and Public Spending on Poverty Reduction in Indonesia 2009-2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
Hendrawan Toni Taruno
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
Poverty Rate ◽  
Single Digit ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

Poverty is a complex and multidimensional issue. Over the past four decades, the number of poor in Indonesia has experienced a significant decline, from 40.10 percent in 1976 to 9.82 percent in March 2018. Nevertheless, the disparity of poverty rates between provinces is still quite high. The poverty rate in several provinces in Java Island, for example, is already at the single-digit level, while in Eastern Indonesia, is still more than double-digit level. As it is known, public spending and economic growth are two crucial instruments on poverty reduction programs. This study aims to investigate the role of economic growth and public spending, particularly education, health, and social protection on poverty reduction in Indonesia. By using panel data from 31 provinces during 2009-2018 period, this study used two regression models to analyze the effects of these two variables on poverty reduction, both in urban and rural areas. This study shows that public spending on health and education sectors has a slightly different effect on poverty reduction between urban and rural areas. Convincingly, spending allocation on health and education has had a significant effect to reduce poverty rate in rural areas, while the decline of poverty rates in urban is likely more influenced by spending on health. This study also shows that over the past ten years, economic growth and social protection spending did not have a significant effect on reducing poverty rates. Therefore, in order to reduce poverty more effectively, it would be better for the government to focus its poverty reduction programs on investment in health and education sectors.

The Capability Approach and the Economics of Labour Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 143-158
Author(s):  
Simon Deakin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Human Freedom ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Complete Theory ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
The Capability Approach

The implications of the capability approach for the positive and normative analysis of labour law are considered in this chapter. It is argued that the capability approach does not offer a complete theory of labour law and does not, in itself, provide substantive guidance for labour law reform, but that it offers a distinct ontological and methodological perspective which can help to reframe the debate over the economic effects of labour law. In its emphasis on the importance of institutions for creating the conditions for human freedom, and in its advocacy of a range of indicators of human well-being beyond those based on economic growth alone, the capability approach underpins the idea that labour law can play a role in creating the conditions for sustainable development.

An Analysis of Restraints on Effective Demand for Loans in Rural China

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Wenjie Ma ◽  
Minxin He ◽  
Xinyu Zhong ◽  
Shengsong Huang
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Effective Demand ◽  
Second Child ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
First Choice

China’s overall economic growth is, to a great extent, hindered by the lack of economic growth in rural areas. Based on data from the Thousand-Village Survey (2015) of 31 provinces conducted by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, we conduct this empirical study to analyze the current state of rural financial services and the factors influencing effective demand for loans in rural China. Looking at the demand side, in 2014, only 13.91% farmers had loans, and only 15.53% of them made financial institutions their first choice when they needed loans. Clearly, there is still much to do with regard to inclusive finance. From the perspective of the supply side, only 43.86% of dispersed loans can be categorized as productive loans, further reflecting that the financial services industry does not provide strong support for rural economic growth. Further study shows that the main factors influencing effective demand for productive loans are the population age structure and the rate at which migrant workers return home. Therefore, the "Second-Child" policy and policies that encourage migrant workers to go back home to start businesses are of vital importance in order to raise effective financial demand in rural China.

The Nexus Between Seniors' Tourism Expenditure and Well-Being in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-174
Author(s):  
Renuka Mahadevan ◽  
Vanessa Sha Fan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Tourism Demand ◽  
Leisure Travel ◽  
Policy Strategy ◽  
Tourism Expenditure

An examination of the two-way relationship between tourism expenditure and life satisfaction for seniors is undertaken in this article. This examination uses panel data on China's seniors and tracks the same seniors over 3 years. Results show that there is bidirectional causality between tourism expenditure and life satisfaction, casting doubt on previous studies that do not consider this two-way relationship. This empirical relationship highlights the importance of a two-pronged policy strategy— a government policy committed to social tourism programs for seniors who may not be able to afford travel and those who reside in rural areas. Another government strategy is to address aged concerns related to mobility and health to improve well-being and the provision of appropriate facilities for leisure travel. Senior tourism demand was found to be income inelastic and this result means that senior tourism can buffer Chinese economic growth in times of economic crisis and uncertainty, making the twin policy strategy a worthwhile consideration.

scholarly journals A Poset-Generalizability Method for Human Development Indicators

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flavio Comim
Keyword(s):  
Human Development ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Generalizability Theory ◽  
Well Being ◽  
New Method ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
Development Analysis ◽  
The Capability Approach

AbstractThe paper introduces a poset-generalizability perspective for analysing human development indicators. It suggests a new method for identifying admissibility of different informational spaces and criteria in human development analysis. From its inception, the Capability Approach has argued for informational pluralism in normative evaluations. But in practice, it has turned its back to other (non-capability) informational spaces for being imperfect, biased or incomplete and providing a mere evidential role in normative evaluations. This paper offers the construction of a proper method to overcome this shortcoming. It combines tools from poset analysis and generalizability theory to put forward a systematic categorization of cases with different informational spaces. It provides illustrations by using key informational spaces, namely, resources, rights, subjective well-being and capabilities. The offered method is simpler and more concrete than mere human development guidelines and at the same time it avoids results based on automatic calculations. The paper concludes with implications for human development policies and an agenda for further work.

The Golf Boom in South Korea: Serving Hegemonic Interests

1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minseok An ◽  
George H. Sage
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Golf Courses ◽  
Farm Land ◽  
The Past ◽  
Social Incentives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Industrial Productivity ◽  
The Government

In the past decade, to help maintain political stability and promote economic growth, South Korea has committed substantial resources to commercialized sports, including golf. A major source of support for building golf courses has come from government leaders and economic and social incentives as well. In the past 4 years the government has given permission to build 135 new golf courses. The official government discourse about the new golf courses is that they are being built in the interest of “sport for all.” But the golf courses overwhelmingly require membership, which is extremely expensive. Despite the enormous power and resources of the dominant groups in Korea, there are elements of opposition. The golf boom has been severely criticized because it removes large amounts of land from agricultural and industrial productivity, contaminates farm land, and pollutes water. It also represents the worst aspects of the social imbalance of wealth.

Explaining Country Heterogeneity in E-Government Evolution Based on Longitudinal Analysis of Nations

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-95
Author(s):  
Prakrit Silal ◽  
Debashis Saha
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Analysis ◽  
Clustering Analysis ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
The Past ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The Government

E-government (EGOV) has emerged as an important innovation disrupting the government-citizen relationship in the past two decades. It has attracted wide attention from scholars across varied domains. However, most of these scholarly works, while richly contributing to this evolving domain, assume homogeneity and uniformity in its design, implementation, and impact. This “one size fits all” approach fails to account for the contextual richness, often culminating in a “design-reality” gap. Also, the existing literature lacks adequate investigation of EGOV heterogeneities along time. To address the lacuna, this study attempts to uncover country-level heterogeneities inherent in EGOV longitudinal evolution. Using a dataset over 2008-2018, the study performs a longitudinal clustering analysis and identifies four distinct cohorts with varying EGOV trajectories. Further, the study uncovers variations in EGOV's influence on country-level development indicators across the four cohorts. The findings help derive theoretical and policy implications while identifying avenues for future works.

scholarly journals Why Affordable Clean Energy Is Not Enough. A Capability Perspective on the Sustainable Development Goals

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 2485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafaela Hillerbrand
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Capability Approach

This paper reflects on criticisms raised in the literature on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These have been criticized as creating a dichotomy between the environment and human beings that fails to address the multiple interconnections between the two. This paper focuses on SDG7—“affordable and clean energy”—and suggests that there is in fact a tripartite distinction between the environment, human beings and technology underlying the SDGs. This distinction, we argue, does not adequately represent the multiple interconnections among the various SDGs and hampers their implementation. We contend that the formulation of SDG7 produces a circular definition of sustainability, a difficulty that is currently resolved at the level of the targets and indicators in a way that regards energy technologies primarily as artifacts. By contrast, the literature on ethical aspects of energy systems largely agrees that energy is a paradigmatic example of a sociotechnical system. We contend that, by not considering this sociotechnical nature, the SDGs run the risk of implicitly defending a certain variant of technological optimism and determinism. We argue that this is disadvantageous to the environment, human well-being and technological development. In line with recent critical evaluations of the SDGs, we argue that these (and other) shortcomings can be addressed by better connecting the SDGs to human well-being. Building on recent literature that expands the scope of the Capability Approach as an alternative measure of well-being so as to include considerations of sustainability, we articulate a framework that allows us to elucidate this connection and thus to take advantage of synergies between human well-being and the environment. On the basis of the Capability Approach, we argue that equating sustainable energy with renewable energy—as is done in the transition from SDG7’s goal to its targets—is indefensible because, as part of the overarching energy systems, energy technologies cannot be classified as simply right or wrong. Rather, the indicators and targets within a framework focused on sustainability need to be (more) context sensitive, meaning that, among other things, they may vary by country and with the available technology.

Fiscal Deficit and Economic Growth in Bangladesh

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebney Ayaj Rana ◽  
Abu N. M. Wahid
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Budget Deficit ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Government Budget ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Government Budget Deficit

The economy of Bangladesh is currently going through a period of continuous budget deficit. The present data suggest that the government budget deficit, on average, is nearly 5% of the country’s GDP. This has been true since the early 2000s. To finance this deficit, governments have been borrowing largely from domestic and foreign sources resulting in inflationary pressure on one hand, and crowding out of private investments on the other. During the same period, although the economy has grown steadily at a rate of more than 6%, this growth is less than the potential. This article presents an econometric study of the impact of government budget deficits on the economic growth of Bangladesh. We conduct a time-series analysis using ordinary least squares estimation, vector error correction model, and granger causality test. The findings suggest that the government budget deficit has statistically significant negative impact on economic growth in Bangladesh. Policy implications of our findings include reestablishing the rule of law, political stability in the country, restructuring tax structure, closing tax loopholes, and harmonizing fiscal policy with monetary policy to attract additional domestic and foreign investment.

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